Download Free Federal Transit Subsidies Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Federal Transit Subsidies and write the review.

The demand for mass transit subsidies is approaching crisis proportions. A study was performed to determine why the demand for transit operating subsidies is growing, what can be done to control subsidy growth, and what improvements are needed in the federal transit operating assistance program. One reason for growing subsidy demands is that rising transit operating costs are not being offset by productivity improvements. Although labor accounts for 70 to 80 percent of operating costs, transit systems have difficulty in using labor efficiently because demand peaks during commuter rush hours. Transit systems are experiencing serious problems in maintaining their bus and railcar fleets. Many systems: (1) are not properly recruiting, training, and promoting their mechanics; (2) do not have adequate preventive maintenance programs; (3) are not properly controlling spare parts inventories; and (4) have restrictive work rules preventing the efficent use of maintenance personnel. The demand for operating subsidies is also growing because transit systems have adopted and maintained unrealistically low fares, even though operating costs are increasing.
An empirical investigation into the distorting effects of subsidies on firm efficiency, this book puts together and applies recent developments in econometric methods to explore efficiency consequences of government subsidy on firm operations. Within the neoclassical framework, the book provides analytical solutions capturing the effect of subsidy on cost, output, input demand, and allocative distortions when the firm receives operating and capital subsidies. By doing so, the book avoids the ad-hoc models that have been used to estimate the effect of subsidy on firm efficiency in the transit industry. The book takes the analytical model and develops empirical models to estimate the effect of subsidy on firm efficiency in transit firms. It applies a variety of techniques—deterministic, stochastic frontier estimation, and Data Envelopment Analysis to capture various aspects of the effect of subsidy. It separates allocative inefficiency into those due to subsidy and those due to internal factors. The book's contribution is the consistency and thoroughness with which the authors deal with the topic and the rigor of the empirical estimation.

Transit Benefits

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 128


Get eBook